Loyal Turks or Fake Muslims? about, not actually witnessed, the custom. Rüştü was one of the former.
He confirms the existence of Dönme swinging at the spring festival.^43 An
example of the latter was a young Dönme who claimed that the Karakaş
still engaged in the practice (echoing Rüştü), but that the Kapancı no
longer did, saying that “until recently Dönme were not allowed to con-
sume lamb before celebrating the Festival of the Lamb. On that spring
night, they boiled blessed lamb meat while performing prayer. A piece
of cooked lamb was sent to every family; only after that were they al-
lowed to buy lamb from the butcher.” The reason he had not experienced
the festival was that “Bachelors were not admitted. Only couples could
participate. Bachelors were probably prohibited because they could not
offer their own wife to share when the lights were extinguished. I tried
to investigate the nature of this festival, but I only was told that I would
learn about it after I married. But by now none of these practices remain
among the Kapancı.”^44
Thus of two published accounts, both come from sources who had
a reason to cast aspersions on the Karakaş, the Dönme group that still
allegedly engaged in the practice. An outside observer, Gordlevsky, also
mentions the ritual in his discussion of the debate in the press about the
identity of the Dönme. But no internal evidence has emerged that the
Dönme practiced it after they were compelled to migrate to Turkey; rather,
the memory of such practices in Salonika was used as fuel for the fire by
those who opposed the Dönme’s inclusion in the new Turkish society
being constructed.
Most articles about the Dönme in the 1920 s were written in such in-
flammatory fashion. In great contrast to this trend, the most sympathetic,
non-sensationalist study of Shabbatai Tzevi and the Dönme appeared in
the daily newspaper Vatan (Fatherland). Following a week of front-page
stories about the Dönme in other Istanbul dailies, including the persua-
sive petitions, writings, and interviews of Rüştü and others who asked
why the Dönme, who differed in blood, race, and religion from Turks
and Muslims (considered the same), had been allowed to immigrate to
Turkey, it was not surprising that when readers purchased a copy of Vatan
on Friday, January 11 , 1924 , they were met with a front-page article en-
titled “Tarihin Esrarengiz bir Sahifesi” (A Mysterious Page of History),
written by an anonymous “investigator of history.” This newspaper stood
out from the rest. In a series of columns published on January 11 – 17 and
19 – 22 , its readers were treated to the history of the Dönme, whom the